Warrior Of The Wind

As the final words left his mouth, the warrior had already disappeared from my sight, leaving behind only a gust of wind in his path. Sharp like a razor, he dashed towards the left side, far away from the monster’s sight, then immediately broke his sprint to make a 90-degree turn straight to its back. But the most impressive thing wasn’t his speed, rather his utter lack of de-acceleration. Even after that sudden turn, there was no sign of his top speed reducing.

All of which resulted in a crescent slash that had carried all of its momentum, straight at the monster’s blind spot. Or at least, that was what I had thought.

The monster’s giant eyes weren’t for show. As if it had already seen the attack coming, as soon as the blade approached its vitals, it had already blocked it clean with its giant shell shoulder. And in the instant the blade bounced back from the clash, the monster took the chance to throw an uppercut from the other side, hitting the masked warrior right in the face.

The man staggered a few steps backward, clearly affected by the counter. But he wasn’t getting away that easily — before he knew it, his vision was soon swarmed, literally, by the horde of insects flying around.

It was an opening too easy to spot. The monster rushed forward with a shoulder charge as the warrior was still busy swatting away the pests around him, and the result was a strong tackle that sent him flying a few paces away.

“Why, you…”

The warrior bounced back as fast as he was knocked down, but the attempt to stand up was met with another kick from the monster, this time sending him straight into one of the nearby stalls. As the man’s crash broke the wooden poles and signs into pieces, nearby spectators screamed and ran for their lives, making the already chaotic scene even noisier.

The man clearly needed help, that much I knew. I clutched my hand. I had to step in.

“I…”

Before I could finish my sentence, however, the creature had already seen me. Even if its straight vision was perpendicular to my eyesight, it didn’t matter. All it took was a sudden turn and another shoulder charge for the creature to send me flying just like the man before me. The only difference was that I had no protection, and I was sustaining previous injuries. Even if the result was the same, the damage I sustained was much worse.

I bit my lips as hard as I could, trying my best to hold back a scream to the point of bleeding. But it didn’t matter. This time, I would succeed.

“I…”

“Not this time, bastard!”

Before I managed to say my chant, the monster had already gone for another strike. But this time, before it managed to touch me, the warrior in green had already recovered from his injuries and slashed the monster in the neck just in the nick of time. Of course, it had also detected the strike, but because of that, its charge towards me had been halted so it could defend with its shoulder shell.

“And you!” The man called out to me, turning around for just a split second. “Get out! What the hell do you think you’re doing, trying to get yourself killed?”

“But I…”

“I said get out!” This one had a much shorter temper than Arja. In just two words, he had decided that he was done with me, and back-kicked me straight in the torso as he continued to fend from the monster’s assault. Thankfully there was no injury on my torso or stomach right now, but it still hurt like hell.

Naturally, I flew a couple steps away. However, the man’s struggles didn’t seem to end just yet. Even without the “excess baggage” that was myself, his attacks still didn’t do nearly as much damage to the monster as it was doing to him. The reason was simple: all of his attacks, even if aimed somewhere else, the monster was clever enough to raise its protective shell, either the giant ones on its shoulder or the smaller ones on its kneecaps, and strike back with its claws straight up. Meanwhile, the man was clearly a speedy type, meaning that while his slashes might have been deadly if struck in a vital spot, if it hit armor, it might as well be useless.

If this kept going, not only would the man be in danger, but so would everyone else in the area.

At that moment, Arja’s words echoed back to me.

The Stigmata feeds on yer desires!

Of course. I’d missed an important detail in those words. Verbalizing a desire was only to make it easier to resonate within your heart. However, it didn’t mean that I had to verbalize my desires each time. All I needed was a trigger word, something to get my brain to focus on my desire.

In other words, I just needed to believe.

But desires were ever-changing. In a situation like this, it would be hard to think about finding my sister. That much I knew. But of course, that didn’t necessarily need to be the case as well.

Desires were ever-changing. Thinking about it logically, what exactly triggered the transformation?

Of course, you could always chalk it to magic. But even magic had its own rules and systems to fit in the world. And Arja had given me the answer to that already.

Desires. In other words, what I wanted. Not always, but in the moment.

It just needed to be strong enough. Other than that, it could be anything.

And in this moment, what I wanted the most was clear.

“Argh!” The green warrior winced in pain. He had suffered another hit from the monster, having been sent crashing into another stall.

My mind was settled. What I wanted the most…

Was to help him. Help me, as well, from this menace.

However, I wouldn’t say all of that out loud. For one, it was embarrassing. But from the fight just now, it was clear that the monster was smart enough to interrupt me. Which meant that I wouldn’t have time to be long-winded. I needed something short, fast, and catchy. Something to form myself a conditional reflex.

I ripped the bandage from my hand and raised it once more.

“Unleashed!”